Los Angeles
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L.A. mayor climbs on bike, gets hit by taxi, gets hit by bike-bloggers
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa climbed on a bike for the first time in years last Saturday for a ride to the beach. Within 30 minutes a taxi driver pulled out in front of him on Venice Boulevard, knocking the mayor to the pavement.
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Portugal’s eco-city, Amazon’s ugly HQ, and more urban notes
Progress toward a sustainable future may be stalled in the Senate, but there’s a ton of news and interesting research happening at the local level on the broad topic of improving built spaces — cities, towns, buildings, transportation systems, etc. A quick roundup from the local solutions beat: Living-PlanIT.comPlanIT Valley: Portugal’s planning to build a […]
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Away from the oil spill, signs of local progress
The Gulf oil spill story is too big to ignore right now. It’s a massive, toxic indictment of our dependency on fuels that fill our atmosphere with heat-trapping pollutants even when everything goes right. But there are other stories too big to ignore, including the story of people finding creative ways to escape the death […]
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Los Angeles without traffic—in pictures
Courtesy Tom BakerToday in happy urban eye candy (previous installations here and here), photographer Tom Baker gives us a look at what some Los Angeles thoroughfares would look like without traffic. Point being, L.A.’s built environment is one manner of placemaking — one that uses a lot of cement, takes up a lot of space, […]
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Dorothy Le
Art: Nat Damm Dorothy Le Planning and Policy Director, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Los Angeles, Calif. Dorothy Le wants to get you out and about on two wheels. Not sure where to start? Watch her series of videos on how to find the bike that’s right for you. At the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, she works to make […]
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Solar PV in Los Angeles: The emperor has no clothes, says UCLA
The Los Angeles Business Council released a hard-hitting report on the future of solar photovoltaics in southern California at its annual sustainability summit on Tuesday. The blockbuster report could have profound repercussions on renewable energy policy not only in Los Angeles, but also in California. In unusually clear and concise language, the report, written by […]
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St. Louis votes for better transit, despite Tea Party campaign
Here’s some good news: St. Louis citizens want robust mass transit, and they’re willing to pay for it. Despite a Tea Party opposition campaign, St. Louis County voters on Tuesday approved a half-cent sales tax increase to stabilize and eventually expand the region’s ailing transit network. The measure passed by a monstrous 24 point margin. […]
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ENERGY STAR ranked cities: Find your perfect match [slideshow]
The Environmental Protection Agency just released a report ranking U.S. cities based on their number of ENERGY STAR–labeled buildings. These rankings make us, well, warm all over, so we decided to check out the sexiest top nine ENERGY STAR buildings of the bunch. Are you in search of the perfect match? Look no further than these sassy personal ads. Maybe […]
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How the West is Winning Against Coal
There is so much good news coming out of the western U.S. these days on coal and clean energy. First up – another domino fell for the Blackstone Group. Blackstone had been funding the construction of three new coal-fired power plants in the U.S. (I’ve written about them before). Last month the River Hill plant […]
